Top six popular crypto predictions of 2023
Cryptocurrency continues to grow with each passing year. New innovations were introduced and many of which became landmarks that further strengthened its economy. Thus, everyone looks forward to what new ideas can be introduced to the crypto space to widen its uses. The goal is to reach out to more users and bolster benefits for blockchain users.
It’s idealistic and it helps foster optimism among crypto users. It helps motivate investors to have a positive outlook on what’s to come but it needs to be examined through a pragmatic lens. 2023 cannot guarantee a perfect year for crypto users. Many of what’s predicted aren’t great but there are some hopeful ones, too. Here are a few events to look forward to in 2023 but it’s not guaranteed that they will be conclusive in this fiscal year:
Strict regulations for crypto use worldwide
Despite the shared love for crypto, many investors are split over what they want for digital assets concerning regulations. Many are in favour of keeping blockchain-based trades unregulated and non-taxed, relying on its decentralised model. Others prefer having local governments watch over traders to protect investors and traders alike.
Crypto is used for a lot of different industries today and billions of euros are traded every month. That includes small uses like in Sportsbet betting as well as large transfers for institutional trading. It also counts money transfers from victims of crypto scams or digital attacks on exchanges in 2022 and subsequent years.
New policies using the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) usher in a new age of trade agreements, bilateral relations, and economic value creation. It aims to create a global unifying framework for crypto regulations worldwide. This will deal a big blow to blockchain businesses because it will slow down their revenue through increased fees, slower transfer rates, and limited trades than before. In exchange, strict regulations are expected to protect crypto users from scams.
Establishing new, stricter regulations are viewed by many crypto investors as a good step in the right direction for blockchain-based finance. It can minimise crypto’s volatility which means it is protected from dropping in a short amount of time. The drawback is how it limits potential profit because it also slows down price hikes. It’s for the best because crypto is now geared towards adaptability. You can use your Sportsbet Bitcoin winnings more often.
Continued mainstream adoption and institutional investment
The new crypto regulations in 2023 are bound to instil confidence among users. It’s expected to contribute to blockchain-based businesses and normalise using Bitcoin as a mode of payment. There are already many services online accepting cryptocurrencies. Sportsbet as an online bookmaker for Tether (USDT) and Bitcoin (BTC) is one of many. Ethereum (ETH) also finds success thanks to its decentralised applications (dapps).
The use of crypto isn’t exclusive to individuals. Institutional trading revolves around large companies like banks, investment firms, and hedge funds. All of them trade digital assets directly at exchanges more commonly than the average trader with thousands to millions of euros transferred monthly.
Up until 2022, most of them rely on wiggle rooms in various countries’ regulations which often deter companies that are less confident in what the blockchain can do. 2023 will see a surge of more users because more people understand the technology behind decentralised finance (DeFi).
Expansion of DeFi applications and protocols led by Ethereum
Despite being second to Bitcoin in market cap and price, Ethereum has a lot of advantages when it comes to a true DeFi experience. Its network is home to a large and growing ecosystem of projects in trades and many of the best protocols enabling their real-world application. Most of these are built on Ethereum’s smart contract systems which Bitcoin does not support.
Among the popular uses for Ethereum are money lending, project investment, and charity among others. There’s also the growing economy surrounding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which isn’t exclusive to its protocol but it is the best platform for it. Other examples for this market include Tron (TRX) and Cardano (ADA) which can also interact with Ethereum, allowing it to benefit from their development as well.
Another reason why Ethereum is favoured for DeFi use is its high security compared to most blockchains. It has thousands of developers working on various aspects, further widening its ecosystem. They worked on increasing the level of security while keeping user-friendliness and countering any possible threat that would harm any of its users. Thus, ETH is one of the most trusted crypto in the world and this is an advantage in encouraging more traders to use its native assets and services.
Reconsideration for the metaverse project
Crypto-related entertainment has grown ever more exciting. It started with online casino gambling to Sportsbet betting and now there’s the metaverse, a new age of social interaction built on the blockchain. Many companies are working on releasing this concept in the past two years and several have already established several promising projects.
Most companies and corporations keep their metaverse projects within a focus group of interested parties. This allows discussions to remain constructive and beneficial to the progress of ideas.
Many ideas were proposed but not all of them were successful. The most promising remains to be online casinos and entertainment spaces while social networking remains unpopular. A major contribution to this is how they have to compete with similar ideas not built on blockchain like VRChat.
Meta, the company behind Facebook, met many hardships through 2022 with regards to their metaverse project of a virtual reality social platform. Some of the challenges they faced included technical issues, user engagement, and standards. Technical issues include 3D modelling and rendering, physics simulations, and latency.
The lack of interaction with other Ethereum-based services limits users’ reasons to use Meta’s metaverse. There is still continued development in the growth of the metaverse revolving around games and social activities. Many are focusing on finding ways to make blockchain systems strong enough to be the foundation of video games.
Stronger focus on privacy and security in the crypto space
The crypto economy grows stronger than ever with each passing year. Thus, security developers have to keep working to keep more people safe from theft. The most popular evidence of this trend is the introduction of more hardware wallets like SecuX STONE, BitBox02, and NGRAVE joining the market. Likewise, older companies like Ledger and Trezo are also continuing development for stronger security.
Regular updates for blockchains are also applied to help the network scale with new users and bigger circulation of crypto worldwide. These come in hard forks meant to change the way digital assets work but some are subtle having only changed community policies or fee rate. Many of these are designed to address minor issues to improve the quality of life for users.
Many blockchain developers are also moving away from the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism popularised by Bitcoin. Many of them are moving in favour of the newer proof-of-stake (PoS) like Ethereum. It has a lower power consumption, allowing for more scalability, and it’s more secure than the older mechanism.
PoW allows a single group of miners to take over the blockchain so long as they control 51% of its mining power. PoS choose who to prioritise based on how much money they have in their account and how recently they were selected to process a transaction. This makes it less likely for any single person or group to gain control over the network.
Promoting the use of blockchain in various industries
Promotions of crypto can take many forms. Many of these were similar to how they were talked about in the past but with a few changes in 2023 because more people understand how it works now. Among the most popular is influencer marketing when crypto companies hire individuals with a good reputation like celebrities and social media personalities.
The most successful examples of such strategies are brand ambassadors in countries where crypto trading is already popular. This is the case with Sportsbet betting thanks to its partnerships with talented artists. Community building was successful in the past for certain digital assets like with NFTs like the Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoBros. Their promotion strategy revolves around forming comradery with fellow investors for the most part.
It can make a return in 2023 but the scope will be interacting with NFT projects for the future of the metaverse. So many assets are now made into NFTs, not just collectable images but also usable files like audio, rigged 3D models, and interfaces. It only needs a platform that can make it fun to encourage more users to join the ever-growing crypto economy.
